Arizona was building transistors before Silicon Valley had a name
- Motorola opened a Phoenix chip lab in 1949
- Intel has run its Chandler campus since 1980
- TSMC’s $265bn buildout is the largest foreign investment in US history
- The Grand Canyon State, 48th and last of the contiguous states (1912)
How Arizona’s digital economy grew
Arizona becomes the 48th state
Admitted February 14, 1912 — the last of the contiguous 48 states to join the Union.
Seventy-five years of chips, not five
The popular story starts with TSMC in 2020, but Arizona’s semiconductor history runs back to 1949, when Motorola opened a Phoenix lab to chase the newly invented transistor. That lineage split into today’s industry: Motorola’s chip division became ON Semiconductor in 1999; equipment maker ASM arrived in 1976 and its Arizona site is now its largest R&D facility worldwide; Microchip Technology was founded and headquartered in Chandler in 1989. Arizona earned the chip boom well before it won TSMC.
The desert bet: TSMC and Intel
Chip fabrication needs geologically stable, low-humidity ground — Arizona has both, unlike earthquake-prone California. TSMC’s commitment has grown roughly twenty-two-fold since 2020, from $12 billion to $265 billion by mid-2026, across six fabs and two packaging plants; the first fab has been in volume production since late 2024. A few miles away, Intel has run its Ocotillo campus in Chandler since 1980, investing more than $50 billion there over four decades and employing 15,000-plus once its newest fabs are fully online.
TSMC Arizona
$265 billion committed across six fabs — called the largest greenfield foreign investment in US history.
Intel Ocotillo
Chandler, since 1980 — four fabs, $50bn+ invested over four decades.
ON Semiconductor (onsemi)
Spun off from Motorola in 1999, headquartered in the Phoenix area.
How Arizona businesses buy websites
The chip fabs employ thousands, but most of the businesses that actually need a website are the trades and shops serving fast-growing suburbs like Chandler, Gilbert and Mesa, plus Phoenix and Tucson themselves.
Trades and home services
Metro Phoenix has grown fast in every direction — say plainly which suburbs and cities you cover.
Clinics, salons and studios
Online booking is the norm for the newer, younger workforce the chip industry has brought into the Valley.
Shops and hospitality
Desert heat drives real seasonal patterns — keep hours and offers current.
How well do you know Arizona’s digital economy?
3 quick questions. Get all 3 right and you win a 10% off discount code. Every answer is somewhere on this page.
Arizona quiz · 1 of 3
In what year did Motorola open the Phoenix lab that founded Arizona’s semiconductor industry?
Why FastSites works here
A state building some of the most advanced factories on Earth is a state that understands precision and speed aren’t opposites. A clear one-page site, live in days, at a published price, fits that same standard.